Abraham, the Father of three Faiths

Abraham was the Father of three Faiths. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

1.  Judaism 
     Abraham was the first to practice the worship of one God.  Abraham faith was in Yahweh.  The holy
     Jewish texts tell us that he was willing to give up his only son, Isaac, because the Yahweh commanded
     it.  Because of Abraham's devotion the request was withdrawn.

    One of the stories found in the sacred Jewish test is that of Abraham asking his father why
    he worshiped idols if they had no life or power.  Abraham smashed all of the idols that his
    father worshiped in order to show that Yahweh was the only God.

    Abraham it was, the story continues, who took up and     moved, from Ur to Canaan, the land promised him by       Yahweh. He changed his name from Abram to                 Abraham. He brought with him his wife, Sara, and his       nephew Lot. Abraham had worshiped other gods             before, but he heard       the commandment of 
    Yahweh, the holy books tell us, and agreed to worship     Yahweh only and     go to Canaan in search of a place     to raise many descendants who would make up a           great nation. This was part of a series of 10 tests set     out for Abram by Yahweh.

    Thus it was that Abraham the city-dweller became         Abraham the nomad. He moved from place     to             place, settling in Canaan. He was later buried in
    Hebron, alongside his wife, Sara.
    Abraham and Sara were very old when Isaac was           born. They were older than most people who had           children. The holy books tell us that Abraham was 
    100 and that Sara was 90.

    Isaac had a son eventually, named Jacob. Jacob it         was who founded the nation of Israel.

2. Christianity 
    Isaac was the couple's first son. It is               through Isaac that Jesus, the central figure
    of Christianity, can be traced back to             Abraham. In the Bible, Christianity's 
    holiest book, one of the New Testament's         books, Matthew, lists all of the ancestors
    of Jesus, from his father, Joseph, all the           way back to King David and then all the 
    way to Abraham and Isaac.
    Thus, Abraham is the father of Christianity       as well, since he is a distant ancestor of         Jesus.






3. Islam
    Abraham had another child, Ishmael (who was actually's Abraham's first). Father and son later     built the Ka'aba, Islam's holiest shrine, in Mecca. Muslims, followers of Islam, believe that the       worship of the one God, Allah, is a restoration of the faith in one God that Ibrahim began many     years ago. Ibrahim is revered by Muslims as a most important prophet.

    One of the stories found in the sacred Muslim texts is the story of Abraham being willing to         sacrifice his son because his God commanded it. Muslim tradition holds that that son was 
    Ishmael.  Muslim holy texts also include the story of Ibrahim smashing his father's idols. Islam       holds that Ibrahim worshiped only one god, Allah.


Today, many Jews refer to themselves as the "sons of Abraham" and Muslims end each of their     five repetitions of daily prayer with a reference to Abraham. Christianity also teaches, through     the words of the Apostle Paul, that Abraham is an example of salvation by faith, meaning that     he was willing to give his own son to God so God rewarded him with good things and many           descendants.

Abraham (Abram/Ibrahim), then, can rightfully be called the Father of Three Faiths.